Modular food holding system

ABSTRACT

A modular food holding system includes a plurality of individual modularized food holding chambers, each of the plurality of food holding chambers being physically and communicatively removably connected to one another. Each of the food holding chambers includes a food holding cavity and at least one of a heating element and/or a cooling element for heating or cooling the food holding cavity. A chamber base is physically and communicatively removably connected to one of the food holding chambers and operation of at least one food holding chamber is controlled by the chamber base.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/850,914 (filed Sep. 10, 2015), the entirety of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to food holding systems and morespecifically to reconfigurable modular food holding systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Restaurant success often depends on how quickly customers can be servedwith food items that a customer orders and on the quality of the fooditems when served. If the rate at which a restaurant prepares food itemsequals the rate at which those same food items are ordered and sold, arestaurant can theoretically have freshly-prepared food items ready toserve as customers order food items. Since it is not always possible tomatch food item production with customer ordering rates, and sincecertain fast food restaurant customers expect to receive their orderedfood items quickly, many quick service food restaurants prepare variousfood items before customers order and keep food items ready for saleuntil a customer arrives and orders a prepared food item.

Holding systems to keep prepared food items ready for sale allow acooked or ready-to-consume food item to be put into the system (e.g., anoven or a refrigerator) from one side and to be taken from the system onthe opposite side thereby allowing food preparers to add food to thesystem and food servers to take food from the system.

Current holding systems come in various fixed sizes but the holdingsystems are not reconfigurable. Rather, such current holding systems aretypically purchased “off the shelf” from a manufacturer/retailer or arecustom designed to meet a specific user's specific needs. Regardless,current holding systems are “fixed” and thus not reconfigurable. Suchfixed dimensional holding units limit food preparation layouts which mayhave to be modified or altered, for numerous reasons, relativelyfrequently. For example, as quick serve restaurants add or change menusitems, food preparation layouts may need to be adjusted. Additionally,different configurations may be desirable to facilitate increasedproduction of different menu items at different times, for example,different menu items and holding capabilities may be desirable atbreakfast than at lunch or dinner. Fixed dimensional holding systemslimit the degree to which the food preparation layouts may bereconfigured.

Moreover, after remodeling a kitchen, existing fixed holding systems maynot be properly sized for the reconfigured kitchen. This may lead to thepurchase of new food holding systems at considerable expense or toundesirable or inefficient food preparation layout.

Generally speaking, food holding systems in the restaurant industryshould be easy to operate, for example, because of the high turnover ofpersonnel, which often requires frequent training of new personnel.

Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a more flexible, reconfigurable,and easy to operate food holding system.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, a modular food holding system includes a plurality ofindividual modularized food holding chambers, each of the plurality offood holding chambers being physically and communicatively removablyconnected to one another, and each of the food holding chamberscomprising a food holding cavity and at least one of a heating elementand a cooling element for heating or cooling the food holding cavity. Achamber base is physically and communicatively removably connected toone of the food holding chambers and operation of at least one foodholding chamber is controlled by the chamber base.

The modular food holding system may include one or more of the followingpreferred forms.

In some forms, the food holding cavity may include one of a blind cavityand a through cavity.

In other forms, the system may include a food holding tray disposedwithin the food holding cavity.

In yet other preferred forms, at least one expansion base may bephysically and communicatively removably connected to the chamber baseand to at least one food holding chamber, such that the at least oneexpansion base receives power and communications from the chamber baseand provides power and communications to the at least one food holdingchamber.

In yet other preferred forms, the first food holding chamber includes apower and communication recess formed in a chamber housing, the powerand communication recess including a power port and a communicationsport. The first food holding chamber may additionally include a powerand communications block formed in the chamber housing, the power andcommunications block having a shape that is complementary to the powerand communications port.

In yet other preferred forms, the first food holding chamber includes aconnection structure formed in a chamber housing, the connectionstructure providing a physical removable attachment with a second foodholding chamber, the connection structure limiting relative movementbetween the first food holding chamber and the second food holdingchamber to one dimension at a time.

In yet other preferred forms, the connection structure may include oneor more of a tongue and groove connection, a locking mechanism thatprevents relative movement between the first and second food holdingchambers in one dimension, a raised plateau on an upper surface of thefirst food holding chamber and a recess on a bottom surface of thesecond food holding chamber (the raised plateau fitting at leastpartially within the recess when the second food holding chamber isstacked upon the first food holding chamber), a securing latch disposedat a bottom surface of the chamber housing of the second food holdingchamber and a locking recess disposed near a top surface of the firstfood holding chamber, a securing hook disposed near a bottom surface ofthe second food holding chamber and a pin disposed near a top surface ofthe first food holding chamber (the securing hook capturing the pin tosecure the second food holding chamber to the first food holding chamberwhen the second food holding chamber is stacked upon the first foodholding chamber), a bayonet pin disposed near a bottom surface of thechamber housing of the second food holding chamber and a keyway disposednear at top surface of the first food holding chamber (the bayonet pinfitting within the keyway when the second food holding chamber isstacked upon the first food holding chamber), a flexible latch disposednear a bottom of the second food holding chamber and a locking channeldisposed near a top of the first food holding chamber (the flexiblelatch being captured at least partially by the locking channel when thesecond food holding chamber is stacked upon the first food holdingchamber), a securing leg extending from a bottom of the second foodholding chamber and fastener opening disposed near a top of the firstfood holding chamber and a fastener extends through the fastener openingand into the securing leg when the second food holding chamber isstacked upon the first food holding chamber, and a locking bracketformed in a bottom surface of the second food holding chamber and anopening formed in a front of the first food holding chamber, and afastening strap extends through the opening and through the lockingbracket when the second food holding chamber is stacked upon the firstfood holding chamber,

In another aspect, a modular food holding system includes a plurality ofindividual modularized food holding chambers, each of the plurality offood holding chambers being physically and communicatively removablyconnected to one another, each of the food holding chambers comprising afood holding cavity and at least one of a heating element and a coolingelement for heating or cooling the food holding cavity, a chamber basephysically and communicatively removably connected to one of the foodholding chambers in the plurality of food holding chambers, and acontrol screen operatively coupled to the chamber base, the controlscreen providing one of a user interface for entering controlinstructions and an information display that displays informationpertaining to one or more of the food holding chambers.

The modular food holding system may include one or more of the followingpreferred forms.

In one preferred form, the control screen is removably attached to thechamber base. In some preferred forms, the control screen may beattached to the chamber base with a tether, or the control screen may bewirelessly connected to the chamber base.

In yet other preferred forms, the control functions include controls forone or more of a temperature of a food holding chamber, a humidity levelof a food holding chamber, and a configuration of the plurality of foodholding chambers.

In yet other preferred forms, the control screen displays a schematicrepresentation of each of the food holding chambers in the plurality offood holding chambers and/or a symbolic illustration of a food type thatis stored in one of the food holding chambers.

In yet other preferred forms, an individual food holding chamber isselectable on the control screen and a location of a selected foodholding chamber is displayed on the control screen.

In yet other preferred forms, the control screen displays a countdowntimer for a selected food holding chamber, the countdown timerrepresenting the useful life of a food item stored in the food holdingchamber.

In other aspects, methods and systems for monitoring and controlling amodular food holding system are disclosed herein. The modular foodholding system may include a master base communicatively connected to aplurality of food holding chambers and to a central controller, suchthat the central controller communicates with the food holding chambersthrough the master base. The food holding chambers may be identical orfunctionally identical, and some food holding chambers may connect tothe master base through other food holding chambers or expansion bases.Each food holding chamber may include an upstream connection and adownstream connection, each having a power connection and acommunication connection. In some embodiments, the master base may beincorporated into one of the modular food holding chambers.

In some embodiments, the food holding chambers may include electricalcomponents that may provide data to the central controller or may becontrolled by the central controller. Such components may includesensors, heating elements, cooling elements, fans, displays, or unitcontrollers. The components may produce or transmit data to the centralcontroller, such as temperature within the food holding chambers,humidity within the food holding chambers, heat source location withinthe food holding chambers, or other data regarding a condition of thefood holding chambers. In some embodiments, the components may belimited to only one or more of a timer switch, a heating element, acooling element, a fan, or an indicator light. In further embodiments,the limited components may further include a unit controller.

Operation of the food holding chambers and their electrical componentsmay be controlled by the central controller. A communicative connectionbetween the central controller and the master base may be establishedvia a communication link, which may be a direct, wired, or wirelesslink. The central controller may receive data from the food holdingchambers, determine control actions based upon the received data(including control commands), and generate and communicate controlcommands to the food holding chambers through the communication link andthe master base. The food holding chambers may communicate data to thecentral controller and receive control commands from the centralcontroller via the communication link and the master base. The foodholding chambers may implement received control commands using one ormore electrical components, which may include presenting an alert,illuminating an indicator light, displaying a countdown, controlling thetemperature within the food holding chambers, or controlling thehumidity within the food holding chambers.

The central controller may further determine and implement controlactions that do not involve control commands to the food holdingchambers. For example, the central controller may determine a countdowntimer or recommendation to a user of the central controller. In someembodiments, the central controller may use the data received from thefood holding chambers to determine a physical arrangement of the foodholding chambers, a visual representation of which may be presented tothe user. The central controller may present control options to theuser, receive a user selection from the presented options, and causecontrol actions to be implemented based upon the received selection.Information regarding the control actions or implementation of thecontrol actions may also be presented to the user. To facilitate suchpresentation and selection of information and options, the centralcontroller may have a display and an input, which may be combined in atouch screen display.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a modular food holding system.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1forming a plurality of reconfigurable modular chambers.

FIG. 3 is a close-up perspective view of the modular food holding systemof FIG. 1 in a 2×2 configuration.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of two chambers of the modularfood holding system of FIG. 1, including bases.

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of one of the chambers of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the chamber of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a close-up perspective view of a communications and powerconnection area of two chambers of FIG. 6 that are stacked and connectedto one another.

FIG. 8A is a side schematic representation of two chambers of FIG. 4 ina pre-connection configuration where the two chambers are separated fromone another.

FIG. 8B is a side schematic representation of the two chambers of FIG.8A in an intermediate connection configuration where housings of the twochambers are partially physically connected.

FIG. 8C is a schematic representation of the two chambers of FIG. 8B ina fully connected configuration where the housings of the two chambersare fully physically connected and one or more of a power connection anda control communications connection is also fully connected.

FIG. 9A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9B is a close-up sectional view of securing portions of the twochambers of FIG. 9A.

FIG. 10A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 10B is a close-up sectional view of securing portions of the twochambers of FIG. 10A.

FIG. 11A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 11B is a close-up sectional view of securing portions of the twochambers of FIG. 11A.

FIG. 12A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 12B is a close-up sectional view of securing portions of the twochambers of FIG. 12A.

FIG. 13A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 13B is a close-up view of securing portions of the two chambers ofFIG. 13A.

FIG. 14A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 14B is a close-up view of securing portions of the two chambers ofFIG. 14A.

FIG. 15A is a perspective view of yet another alternative embodiment oftwo chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 15B is a close-up view of securing portions of the two chambers ofFIG. 15A.

FIG. 16A is a perspective view of yet another embodiment of a chamber ofthe modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 16B is a perspective view of an outer casing of the embodiment ofFIG. 16A.

FIG. 16C is a bottom perspective view of the outer casing of FIG. 16B.

FIG. 16D is an exploded perspective view of the embodiment of FIGS.16A-16C.

FIG. 16E is a perspective view of two chambers of the embodiment ofFIGS. 16A-16C in the process of connecting to one another.

FIG. 16F is a side view of the two chambers of FIG. 16E in a partiallyconnected state.

FIG. 16G is a sider view of the two chambers of FIG. 16E in a fullyconnected state.

FIG. 17A is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a base.

FIG. 17B is a perspective view of the base of FIG. 17A, including ablock-off plug.

FIG. 17C is a perspective view of the base of FIG. 17A, including aplurality of slave bases aligned and in position for connection.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.3 including a control and display screen.

FIG. 19A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 16 including one example of a display for selecting one of the fourchambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 18. FIG. 19B is anexploded view showing the control screen illustrated in FIG. 19A.

FIG. 20A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 16 including one example of a display for controlling one of thefour chambers of the modular food holding system of FIG. 18. FIG. 20B isan exploded view showing the control screen illustrated in FIG. 20A.

FIG. 21A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 16 including one example of a display for entering food item presetconditions into one of the four chambers of the modular food holdingsystem of FIG. 18. FIG. 21B is an exploded view showing the controlscreen illustrated in FIG. 21A.

FIG. 22A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 18 including one example of a display for programming new menuitems into one of the four chambers of the modular food holding systemof FIG. 18. FIG. 22B is an exploded view showing the control screenillustrated in FIG. 22A.

FIG. 23A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 16 including one example of a display for adding two additionalchambers into the modular food holding system of FIG. 18 in a 3×2configuration. FIG. 23B is an exploded view of the control screenillustrated in FIG. 23A.

FIG. 24A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 16 including one example of a display for adding two additionalchambers into the modular food holding system of FIG. 18 in a 2×3configuration. FIG. 24B is an exploded view of the control screenillustrated in FIG. 24A.

FIG. 25A is a perspective view of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 18 including one example of a display for adding one additionalchamber into a 2×2 modular food holding system of FIG. 1 in a 3×1configuration. FIG. 25B is an exploded view of the control screenillustrated in FIG. 25A.

FIG. 26 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.3 including an alternate location for a control and display screen.

FIG. 27 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.3 including an alternate tethered control and display screen.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.3 including an alternate integrated control and display screen mountedon a modularized electronics and display module.

FIG. 29 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.3 including an alternate wireless control and display screen.

FIGS. 30A-B are perspective views of the modular food holding system ofFIG. 3 including an alternate plug-in control and display screen.

FIG. 31 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.1 with a plurality of food holding chambers connected in variousfashions, forming a plurality of food holding stations, each foodholding station including a control and display screen of FIG. 18.

FIG. 32 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.1 with a plurality of food holding chambers connected in variousfashions, forming a plurality of food holding stations, each foodholding station including a control and display screen of one of FIGS.16-28.

FIG. 33 is a perspective view of the modular food holding system of FIG.1 with a plurality of food holding chambers connected in variousfashions, forming a plurality of food holding stations, each foodholding station being controlled by a wireless control and displayscreen of FIG. 29.

FIG. 34 is a schematic block diagram of the modular food holding systemof FIG. 1.

FIG. 35 is a logic flow diagram of an exemplary monitoring method thatmay be implemented by the modular food holding system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 36 is a logic flow diagram of an exemplary communication method fora central controller connected to the modular food holding system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 37 is a logic flow diagram of an exemplary control method for acentral controller connected to the modular food holding system of FIG.1.

FIGS. 38A and 39B illustrate perspective views of an exemplary foodholding tray for use with the food holding chambers described herein.

FIGS. 39A through 39C illustrate top and bottom plan views of the foodholding tray of FIGS. 38A and 38B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Although the following text sets forth a detailed description ofnumerous different embodiments, it should be understood that the legalscope of the invention is defined by the words of the claims set forthat the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be construedas exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment, asdescribing every possible embodiment would be impractical, if notimpossible. One could implement numerous alternate embodiments, usingeither current technology or technology developed after the filing dateof this patent, which would still fall within the scope of the claims.

Unless a term is expressly defined in this patent using the sentence “Asused herein, the term ‘_(——————)’ is hereby defined to mean . . . ” or asimilar sentence, there is no intent to limit the meaning of that term,either expressly or by implication, beyond its plain or ordinarymeaning, and such term should not be interpreted to be limited in scopebased on any statement made in any section of this patent (other thanthe language of the claims). To the extent that any term recited in theclaims at the end of this patent is referred to in this patent in amanner consistent with a single meaning, that is done for sake ofclarity only so as to not confuse the reader, and it is not intendedthat such claim term be limited, by implication or otherwise, to thatsingle meaning. Finally, unless a claim element is defined by recitingthe word “means” and a function without the recital of any structure, itis not intended that the scope of any claim element be interpreted basedon the application of 35 U.S.C. § 112(f).

As used herein, the term “food holding system” is hereby defined to meanany system that is capable of holding food in a fully or partiallyprepared state and ready for immediate sale, consumption, or use. Theterm “food holding system” is further defined to include, withoutlimitation, hot and cold food holding systems, such as, for example,ovens, toasters, radiant heaters, refrigerators, freezers, or any othertype of heating or cooling device. Furthermore, the term “food holdingsystem” is also defined to include, without limitation, passivetemperature control devices such as insulated compartments.

As used herein, the term “communicatively” is hereby defined to meanthat two elements are connected in such a way to enable communicationsto be passed from one element to another. The term “communicatively” isfurther defined to include, without limitation, electronic connections,such as wired or wireless connection, mechanical connections, pneumaticconnections, hydraulic connection, or any other type of connection thatallows communication signals to be passed between elements. Thecommunication signals may include command and control signals, such asinstructions, and the communication signals may include datatransmissions, such as sensor data.

As used herein, the term “one-dimension at a time” is hereby defined tomean that relative movement between two structural elements (e.g., twochambers) is confined to a single plane. For example, relative movementmay be limited to one of an X-plane, a Y-plane, or a Z-plane at a timein a Cartesian coordinate system. In other examples, relative movementmay be limited to one of a vertical plane, a horizontal plane, or alateral plane at a time. The term “one-dimension at a time” is herebydefined to include rotational relative movements as long as themovements are limited to a single plane at a time, for example pivotingof one structure relative to another structure.

The term “directly sensing” is hereby defined to mean detecting acharacteristic of a head space of a food holding compartment, such as afood holding pan. The detected characteristic is hereby defined toinclude, without limitation, a temperature, a humidity, or a chemicalcomposition of the headspace of the food holding compartment. A sensorthat is used to directly sense the characteristic is in fluidcommunication with the headspace when the characteristic is humidity orchemical composition. However, the sensor may or may not be in fluidcommunication with the headspace when the characteristic is temperatureor weight. For example, a temperature sensor may be located outside theheadspace, while measuring a desired wavelength of light through atransparent cover that correlates with the temperature of the headspace.Similarly, a load sensor may be located in the food holding chamber(outside of the headspace), which measures a total weight of the foodholding tray and the weight of the food within the food holding traysuch that the weight of the food may be deduced by subtracting the knownweight of the food holding tray from the total weight. Fluidcommunication includes placing the sensor directly within the headspaceor removing a portion of the gases within the headspace and directingthe removed gases to a sensor location that is not directly within theheadspace, such that the humidity or chemical composition of the gasescan be determined.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a modular food holding system 10 is illustratedthat is constructed in accordance with the teachings of the disclosure.The modular food holding system 10 comprises a plurality of individualmodularized food holding chambers 12. Two or more of the individualmodularized food holding chambers 12 may be physically andcommunicatively connected with one another to form various food holdingstations or food holding units 14. The food holding units 14 may beconfigured to optimize food holding capacity for a given area in thefood preparation area, such as a kitchen 16. Where more capacity isneeded, more individual modularized food holding chambers 12 may beconnected together. For example, six individual food holding chambers 12may be connected to form a 3×2 food holding unit 14 a in a foodpreparation area. Similarly, four individual food holding chambers 12may be connected to form a 4×1 food holding unit 14 b near a toaster orto form a 2×2 food holding unit 14 c near a fryer or grill station.Likewise, three individual food holding chambers 12 may be connected toform a 3×1 food holding unit 14 d, 14 e, under a preparation counter orover a fryer or grill, respectively. Along the same lines, twoindividual food holding chambers 12 may be connected to form a 2×1 foodholding unit 14 f above a salt station. Alternatively, a singleindividual food holding chamber 12 may form a food holding unit 14 g,near a food preparation area. Each of the above identified food holdingunit configurations is exemplary only and any number of individual foodholding chambers 12 may be connected to form each food holding unit 14,depending on user needs.

FIG. 2 illustrates additional exemplary configurations for the foodholding units 14, anywhere between 1×1 to 4×4. Again, the configurationsillustrated in FIG. 2 are intended to be exemplary only and are notintended to limit the food holding units 14 to the illustratedconfigurations. Furthermore, the food holding units 14 illustrated inFIG. 2 demonstrate the great flexibility of the food holding system 10described herein. Some of the advantages to the disclosed food holdingsystem 10 include configuration flexibility (due to the modular natureof the individual food holding chambers), ease of reconfiguration (whichwill be described further hereinafter), economy of space, and ease ofoperation.

Each food holding unit 14 includes one or more individual food holdingchambers 12 and one or more chamber bases 18, as illustrated in FIGS. 3and 4. Each chamber base 18 is physically removably connected to oneindividual food holding chamber 12. Additionally, the chamber bases 18may be connected to one another to provide passage of power and/orcommunication instructions from one chamber base 18 to another chamberbase 18 and/or to one or more individual food holding chambers 12. Eachindividual food holding chamber 12 includes a housing 20 that includes afood holding cavity 22. The food holding cavity 22 may be formed as ablind cavity (having a single opening and an end wall), or as a throughcavity (having an opening at either end). Regardless, each food holdingcavity 22 is sized and shaped to receive a food holding tray 24. Thefood holding tray 24 may contain one or more food items that are to bemaintained in holding conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.),until the food item is sold. Each individual food holding chamber 12 mayinclude a power and communications recess 26 in the chamber housing 20.The power and communications recess 26 may include one or more ports,such as a power port 28 and a communications port 30, to facilitatetransfer of power and communications between individual food holdingchambers 12 and/or between an individual food holding chamber 12 and achamber base 18. Similarly, each chamber base 18 may include a combinedport, such as a power and communications port 32. Alternatively, or inaddition to the power and communications port 32, the chamber base 18may include separate power ports 28 and communication ports 30, similarto those of the individual food holding chambers 12. Optionally, onechamber base 18 may function as a master base 18 a and the other chamberbases 18 in a food holding unit 14 may function as expansion bases 18 b.The master base 18 a may include connectivity to a controller of somesort, for example a touch screen controller that will be discussedfurther hereinafter. The expansion bases 18 then function as conduitsfor power and communications from the master base 18 a to individualfood holding chambers 12.

Turning now to FIGS. 5-7, one example of a connection structure 33 forconnecting two individual food holding chambers 12 to one another, orfor connecting one individual food holding chamber 12 to a chamber base18, will be described. Generally, the connection structure 33 of theembodiment described in FIGS. 5-7 is a tongue and groove type connectionstructure that limits relative movement between the two individual foodholding chambers 12 to one dimension at a time.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the connection structure 33 includes atop groove 34 that is disposed along a top edge 36 of the food chamberhousing 20 at each side of the food chamber housing 20. The top groove34 may include an opening 38 and one or more downturned tabs 40, thedownturned tabs 40 extending into the top groove 34 from a top rail 42that defines one side of the top groove 34. The top rail 42 may includea first top rail 42 a and a second top rail 42 b that are separated bythe opening 38.

The bottom of the food chamber housing 20 includes complementaryconnection structure. More specifically, the bottom of the food chamberhousing 20 includes a bottom groove 44 that is disposed along a bottomedge 46 of the food chamber housing 20. The bottom groove 44 may includeone or more upturned tabs 48 that extend upward into the bottom groove44 from a bottom rail 50 that defines one side of the bottom groove 44.The bottom groove 44 may include an opening 52 that separates a firstbottom rail 50 a and a second bottom rail 50 b.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a locking mechanism, such as a locking tab 54 maybe disposed in the food chamber housing 20 to secure one individual foodchamber housing 12 to another individual food chamber housing 12 bypreventing relative movement in one dimension, for example movement of atop food chamber housing 12 forward relative to a bottom food chamberhousing 12.

Similar connection structure 33 may be disposed on a top edge of thechamber base 18 to allow connection between the chamber base 18 and theindividual food holding chamber 12.

Turning now to FIGS. 8A-8C, assembly of two individual food holdingchambers 12 with on another will be described. A first individual foodholding chamber 12 a may be placed above a second individual foodholding chamber 12 b, as illustrated in FIG. 8A. The opening in thebottom rail 52 of the first individual food holding chamber 12 a may bealigned with the first top rail 42 a in the second individual foodholding chamber 12 b. Similarly, the opening in the top rail 38 of thesecond individual food holding chamber 12 b may be aligned with thesecond bottom rail 50 b of the first individual food holding chamber 12a. In other words, the food chamber housing 20 a of the first individualfood holding chamber 12 a may be aligned, but longitudinally offsettowards a front side and above from the food chamber housing 20 b of thesecond individual food holding chamber 12 b. As the first individualfood holding chamber 12 a is brought towards the second individual foodholding chamber 12 b, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the top rails 42 of thesecond individual food holding chamber 12 b engage the bottom groove 44of the first individual food holding chamber 12 a and the bottom rails50 of the first individual food holding chamber 12 b engage the topgroove 34 of the first individual food holding chamber 12 a. Thereafter,the first individual food holding chamber 12 a slides longitudinallyrelative to the second individual food holding chamber 12 b, asillustrated in FIG. 8C, until the downturned tabs 40 of the firstindividual food holding chamber 12 a engage the upturned tabs 48 of thesecond individual food holding chamber 12 b, which stops relativelongitudinal movement between the two individual food holding chambers12. The connection structure restricts further movement between the twoindividual food holding chambers 12 to a single dimension (e.g., forwardfor the first individual food holding chamber 12 b in FIG. 8C relativeto the second individual food holding chamber 12 b). The locking tab 54of FIG. 7 may further restrict relative movement in the single directionuntil a user would like to uncouple the two individual food holdingchambers 12 in which case, the locking tab 54 is actuated and thereverse of the above described process is executed to separate the twoindividual food holding chambers 12.

A similar procedure may be used to assemble one individual food holdingchamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

Returning now to FIGS. 5 and 6, a power and communications recess 56 isdisposed in the top of the food chamber housing 20. A power andcommunications block 58 may be similarly disposed in the bottom of thefood chamber housing 20. The power and communications recess 56 mayinclude a power port 60 and a communications port 62 for connectingpower and communications between individual food holding chambers 12and/or between an individual food holding chamber 12 and the chamberbase 18. A locking protrusion 64 may extend from one side of the powerand communications recess 56, the locking protrusion 64 interacting withthe locking tab 54 of FIG. 7.

The power and communications block 58 may include a power plug 66 and acommunications plug 68. The power plug 66 is inserted into the powerport 60, and the communications plug 68 is inserted into thecommunications port 62, during coupling of a first individual foodholding chamber 12 to a second individual food holding chamber 12, asdescribed above. In this way, power and communications are provided toevery individual food holding chamber 12 in a food holding unit 14automatically by virtue of simply physically connecting one individualfood holding chamber 12 to another and/or to a chamber base 18. In theembodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, female connectors are illustrated for thepower port 60 and the communications port 62 and male connectors areillustrated for the power plug 66 and the communications plug 68. Inother embodiments, the male connectors may be disposed in the power andcommunications recess 56 and the female connectors may be disposed inthe power and communications block 58.

Turning now to FIGS. 9A-15B, several alternative embodiments ofconnection structure 33 are illustrated that may be used to connect oneindividual food holding chamber 12 to another and/or to a chamber base18.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a connection structure 33 comprising a raisedplateau 70 on an upper surface 72 of the food chamber housing 20 a of afirst individual food holding chamber 12 a that fits within a recess 74formed on a bottom of the food chamber housing 20 b of a second foodholding chamber 12 b. The raised plateau 70 may include an angled sidesurface 76 that allows a side wall extension 78 on the bottom of thesecond individual food holding chamber 12 b to grab the raised plateau70 to secure the second individual food holding chamber 12 b to thefirst individual food holding chamber 12 a. A similar connectionstructure 33 may be used to secure a first individual food holdingchamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a securing latch 80. The securing latch 80 maybe attached to the second individual food holding chamber 12 b near abottom surface of the food chamber housing 20 b. The securing latch 80may be pivotably attached to the food chamber housing 20 b. The securinglatch 80 may include a hook 82 at one end and a release tab 84 atanother end. A locking recess 86 is disposed near a top of the foodchamber housing 20 b and a release recess 88 is disposed near a bottomof the food chamber housing 20 a. A locking ledge 90 is formed above thelocking recess 86. When a first individual food holding chamber 12 a isattached to a second individual food holding chamber 12 b, the hook 82fits into the locking recess 88 and prevents separation of the firstindividual food holding chamber 12 a and the second individual foodholding chamber 12 b by hooking onto the locking ledge 90. To releasethe latch, a user pushes on the release tab 84 and the securing latch 80pivots to remove the hook 82 from the locking recess 88. A similarconnection structure 33 may be used to secure a first individual foodholding chamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate yet another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a securing hook 92 and a pin 94. The securinghook 92 is pivotably mounted to a front, side, or rear surface of thefood chamber housing 20 b. The pin 94 is attached to a front, side, orrear surface of the food chamber housing 20 a. In other embodiments, thesecuring hook 92 and the pin 94 may be reversed. When the secondindividual food holding chamber 12 b is stacked on the first individualfood holding chamber 12 a, the securing hook 92 may engage the pin 94 toprevent relative movement between the first individual food holdingchamber 12 a and the second individual food holding chamber 12 b. In alocked or secured position, the securing hook 92 is pivoted so that arecess 96 at least partially surrounds the pin 94. To separate the firstindividual food holding chamber 12 a from the second individual foodholding chamber 12 b, the securing hook 92 is rotated so that the pin 94is no longer surrounded by the recess 96. A similar connection structure33 may be used to secure a first individual food holding chamber 12 to achamber base 18.

FIGS. 12A and 12 B illustrate yet another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a bayonet pin 98 and a key-way 100. One or morebayonet pins 98 may be formed near a bottom of the individual foodholding chamber 12. The key-way 100 may be formed near a top of theindividual food holding chamber 12. To connect the two individual foodholding chambers 12, the bayonet pin 98 of the second individual foodholding chamber 12 b may be inserted into the key-way 100 of the firstindividual food holding chamber 12 a. The key-way 100 may guide thebayonet pin 98 into a position that correctly seats the secondindividual food holding chamber 12 b on the first individual foodholding chamber 12 a. A similar connection structure 33 may be used tosecure a first individual food holding chamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate yet another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a flexible latch 102 and a locking channel 104.The flexible latch 102 is attached to the front, side, or back of thefood chamber housing 20. A locking channel 104 is also formed in thefront, side, or back of the food chamber housing 20. The locking channel104 is arranged so that the flexible latch 102 fits within the lockingchannel 104 when the second individual food holding chamber 12 b isattached to the first individual food holding chamber 12 a. An angledfront surface 106 of the flexible latch 102 facilitates deflection ofthe flexible latch 102 as the flexible latch 102 is pushed into thelocking channel 104. A similar connection structure 33 may be used tosecure a first individual food holding chamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrate yet another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a securing leg 108 and a securing fastener 110.The securing leg 108 may be disposed on a bottom of the food chamberhousing 20. The securing leg 108 may fit within a recess on the top ofthe food chamber housing 20. A fastener opening 112 may be formed in thefood chamber housing 20 to allow the securing fastener 110 to passthrough the food chamber housing 20 and into the securing leg 108. Asimilar connection structure 33 may be used to secure a first individualfood holding chamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate yet another embodiment of a connectionstructure 33 comprising a locking strap 114 and one or more lockingbrackets 116. The locking brackets 116 are attached to a bottom of thefood chamber housing 20. The locking brackets 116 are disposed within arecess 118 in the upper surface of another food chamber housing 20 whenthe second individual food holding chamber 20 b is stacked on the firstindividual food holding chamber 12 a. An opening 118 in the front of thefood chamber housing 120 allows the locking strap 114 to pass throughthe front of the food chamber housing 20 and through the lockingbrackets 116 to secure the second individual food holding chamber 12 bto the first individual food holding chamber 12 a. A similar connectionstructure 33 may be used to secure a first individual food holdingchamber 12 to a chamber base 18.

FIGS. 16A-16G illustrate yet another embodiment of a food holdingchamber 12 and a connection structure 33. In the embodiment of FIGS.16A-16G, the connection structure 33 includes a hook 130 (FIGS. 16B-16G)located on a bottom of the chamber 12. The connection structure 33 alsoincludes a plurality of slots 132 formed in a top surface of the chamber12. As illustrated in FIGS. 16E-16G, the assembly process includeslowering a top chamber 12 a towards a bottom chamber 12 b in a singledimension at a time (e.g., vertically) until the hook 130 enters oneslot 132. Once the hook 130 is disposed in the slot 132, a front portionof the top chamber 12 a is rotated in a single plane (e.g., verticallydownward) until the top chamber 12 a is longitudinally aligned with thebottom chamber 12 b.

Towards the end of the connection process, as the bottom of the topchamber 12 a approaches the top of the bottom chamber 12 b, anelectrical connection is formed when a male electrical connector 140 onthe top chamber 12 a mates with a female electrical connector 142 on thebottom chamber 12 b. The electrical connection (e.g., the connectionbetween the male electrical connector 140 and the female electricalconnector 142) is capable of transmitting both power and electricalcommunications between the top chamber 12 a and the bottom chamber 12 b.In other embodiments, the male and female connectors may be reversed sothat the male electrical connector is on the top of the chamber and thefemale electrical connector is on the bottom of the chamber. Thisembodiment is particularly useful in positioning the electricalconnectors 140, 142 on adjacent stacked food holding chambers relativeto one another before completing the electrical connections.

Returning to FIG. 16A, the male electrical connector 140 and the femaleelectrical connector 142 may be integrated with a control circuit board144 in this embodiment to reduce the amount of wiring required. Thecontrol circuit board 144 controls operation of the food holding chamber12. However, the control circuit board 144 receives instructions in theform of an assembly file from a chamber base, as will be discussedfurther hereinafter. For example, the control circuit board 144 maycontrol operation of heating or cooling elements within the chamber 12to maintain a desired temperature, while the desired temperature iscommunicated from the chamber base as an assembly file.

FIGS. 17A-17C illustrate yet another embodiment of a chamber base 18.The embodiment of FIGS. 17A-17C may include a first female electricalconnector 142 on a top surface and second female connector 162 locatedin a recess separated from the first female electrical connector 142. Inother embodiments, the electrical connectors may take the form of maleelectrical connectors. Both the first and second female electricalconnectors 142, 162 are capable of transmitting both power andelectrical communication signals from the chamber base 12 (in this casea master base) to food holding chambers 12 or to other chamber bases(e.g., slave bases). In some embodiments, a block-off plug 150 may beused to cover the second female electrical connector 162 when no otherchamber bases are needed. The chamber base 18 (e.g., a master chamberbase 18 a) may be connected to other chamber bases 18 (e.g., slavechamber bases 18 b-18 d) as illustrated in FIG. 17C where a maleelectrical connector 160 on a slave base 18 b connects with the femaleelectrical connector 162 on the master base 18 a.

FIGS. 18-33 illustrate several embodiments of a control screen 590 thatmay be used to enter instructions into the chamber base 18 and/or todisplay information pertaining to the food holding chambers from thechamber base 18 and the food holding chambers 12. In a first embodiment,which is illustrated in FIGS. 18-25, the control screen 590 may beremovably attached to the chamber base 18. The control screen 590displays control functions for the food holding chambers, such astemperatures and humidity levels, and configuration information for thefood holding unit 14. For example, the control screen 590 may display aschematic representation 591 of the food holding unit 14 (in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 19, the food holding unit 14 is a 2×2 matrix of foodholding chambers 12). The schematic representation 591 includes symbolicillustrations of the types of food disposed in each of the food holdingchambers. For example, a first food holding chamber 12 a may include aschematic representation illustrating a chicken item, a second foodholding chamber 12 b may include a schematic representation illustratinga burger patty, a third food holding chamber 12 c may include aschematic representation illustrating a desert item, such as cake, and afourth food holding chamber 12 d may include a schematic representationillustrating onion rings. The food items illustrated in FIG. 19 are forillustration purposes only and virtually any food item may be located inany of the food holding chambers 12 a-d. A user may select any one ofthe food holding chambers 12 a-d by simply touching the symbolicrepresentation of the food item.

After selecting one of the food holding chambers 12 a-d, control screen593 for the selected food holding chamber 12 a-d appears, as illustratedin FIG. 20. The control screen 593 may include a schematicrepresentation of the selected food holding chamber 12 and the locationof the selected food holding chamber 12 (in the illustration of FIG. 20,the upper left side of the screen) in the food holding unit 14. Atextual abbreviation of the type of food may be displayed along with acurrent temperature of the food holding chamber 12 and the relativehumidity of the food holding chamber 12. A countdown timer may also bedisplayed, which represents the length of time left for the food itemcontained in the food holding chamber 12 before the food item will needto be discarded.

FIG. 21 illustrates an additional control screen 593 for the selectedfood holding chamber 12 in which a use may select an existing menu itemfrom a preset list of menu items. In the example illustrated in FIG. 21,the user has selected preset menu item number one, which corresponds toa chicken item.

FIG. 22 illustrates yet another control screen 593 for the selected foodholding chamber 12 in which a relative humidity level is selected. Theuser my select a relative humidity level based on the type and/or numberof food items in the food holding chamber 12.

FIGS. 23-25 illustrate a configuration screen 594 that may be displayedon the control screen 590. The configuration screen 594 automaticallydisplays new food holding chambers 12 that are connected to the foodholding unit 14. For example, in the food holding unit 14 of FIG. 23,two new food holding chambers 12 have been added to the right side ofthe food holding unit 14. The configuration screen 594 may display thenewly added food holding chambers 12 in a different color or font toalert a user to the addition of the new food holding chambers 12 and/orthe need to program the newly added food holding chambers 12.

FIGS. 24 and 25 illustrate the addition of newly added food holdingchambers 12 either on top of the food holding unit 14 (FIG. 24) or asingle unit on the right side of the food holding unit 14 (FIG. 25). Auser may program the newly added food holding chambers 12 by selectingthem on the control screen 590, which opens the control functionsdiscussed above.

FIGS. 26-30 illustrate various alternate embodiments of a control screen590.

In one alternate embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 26, the controlscreen 590 may be attached to a top surface of one of the food holdingchambers 12.

In another alternate embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 27, the controlscreen 590 may be attached to the chamber base 18 with a tether 595. Thetether 595 allows the control screen 590 to be moved away from the foodholding unit 14 a certain distance without totally separating thecontrol screen 590 from the food holding unit 14, thus preventing lossof the control screen 590 while allowing some freedom of movement. Someembodiments may further include a storage bracket 597 to hold thecontrol screen 590 when not in use. The storage bracket 597 may beattached to the chamber base 18.

In another alternate embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 28, the controlscreen 590 may be integrated into one food holding chamber 12. Forexample, the control screen 590 may be disposed within a housing 20having the same size and shape as the housing of a chamber 12, butwherein the housing 20 containing the control screen 590 is notconfigured to hold food.

In another alternate embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 29, the controlscreen 590 may be connected wirelessly to the chamber base 18 via awireless transceiver 596 of the chamber base 18. Some embodiments mayfurther include a storage slot 598 to hold the control screen 590 whennot in use. The storage slot 598 may be attached to the chamber base 18.

In yet another alternate embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 30A-B, thecontrol screen 590 may be removably attached to the chamber base 18 witha plug-in connection 599. In this embodiment, the display screen 590 maytake on a reduced size (as illustrated in FIG. 30A) when the foodholding unit 14 comprises a small number of food holding chambers 12(e.g., one or two food holding chambers 12).

FIGS. 31-33 illustrate the embodiments of FIGS. 26-30 in variouslocations of a food preparation area.

The modular food holding systems described above and belowadvantageously do not require any covering with sheet metal or othercovering because each unit is complete in and by itself. Thisself-contained feature of each module results in no exposed electronics,which reduces the possibility of shorting or other damage to theinternal electronic components. Additionally, the modular nature of thesystem allows a single faulty unit to be replaced without having toreplace the entire system.

FIG. 34 illustrates a schematic block diagram of an exemplary modularfood holding system 500 and an exemplary central controller 510. In someembodiments, the modular food holding system 500 may include the centralcontroller 510. In alternative embodiments, the modular food holdingsystem 500 and the central controller 510 may be separate systems ordevices, communicating by a communication connection 530. The modularfood holding system 500 may be a system of individual modularized foodholding chambers 560, which may be configured to store perishable fooditems. Such food holding chambers 560 may comprise individual foodholding chambers 12 (FIG. 1), as discussed elsewhere herein. The foodholding chambers 560 may be connected to other food holding chambers560, a master base 540 (which may be a chamber base 18), or one or moreexpansion bases 540A (which may be an expansion base 18) (collectivelyreferred to as the “components” of the modular food holding system 500,together with their sub-components disposed within any of thecomponents). The connections between the components of the modular foodholding system 500 may include a power connection 544 and acommunication connection 546, which connect every food holding chamber560 and every expansion base 540A to the master base 540. As illustratedin FIG. 34, additional food holding chambers 560 may be connected to anyof the food holding chambers 560, and additional expansion bases 540Amay be connected to the expansion bases 540A. In a preferred embodiment,however, only one master base 540 provides power and control commandsfrom the central controller 510 to each food holding chambers 560,either directly or indirectly. Additionally, or alternatively, themaster base 540 may be incorporated within one of the food holdingchambers 560 in some embodiments.

The master base 540 forms the center of the power and communicationnetwork of the modular food system 500 and also serves as acommunicative link to the central controller 510. A power source 550 isconnected to the master base 540, which may either transform the powerreceived or pass through the power without conversion. For example, thepower source may be a 110V or 240V A/C source, which the master base 540may convert to 12V D/C to power the food holding chambers 560. Themaster base 540 includes connections to provide power and communicationsto at least one expansion base 540A and at least one food holdingchamber 560 directly via the power connection 544 and the communicationconnection 546. As noted, additional expansion bases 540A or foodholding chambers 560 may be indirectly connected to the master base 540.The power connections 544 may include grounded, ungrounded, regulated,unregulated, single-phase, multiphase, direct, alternating current, orany other type power connection known or here-after developed. Thecommunication connections 546 may include wired or wireless, analog ordigital, addressable, mesh, single-wire, twisted pair, multi-conductor,cable, electrical, optical, or any other type of communicationconnection known or here-after developed. In some embodiments, multiplepower connections 544 providing different power levels (e.g., 110V A/Cand 12V DC) or multiple communication connections 546 providingdifferent communication channels may be included between each pair ofcomponents of the modular food system 500.

In some embodiments, the master base 540 may further include acommunication unit 542 configured to facilitate communication with thecentral controller 510 via the communication link 530. When present, thecommunication unit 542 receives data from the food holding chambers 560via the communication connections 546, transmits the data to the centralcontroller 510 via the communication link 530, receives control datafrom the central controller 510 via the communication link 530, andtransmits the control data to the food holding chambers 560 via thecommunication connections 546. The data received from the food holdingchambers 560 may include data received from elements disposed therein,including sensors 564, heating elements 566, fans 568, or displays 570.The communication link 530 may include a cord, a wireless connection, ora direct connection between a plug of the central controller and asocket of the master base. The communication link 530 may furtherinclude any known or hereafter developed wired or wireless electronicdata communication medium or protocol, including wireless telephony(e.g., GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.), Wi-Fi (802.11 standards), WiMAX,Bluetooth, Fieldbus (e.g., HART®, WirelessHART®, FOUNDATION® Fieldbus,etc.), or NFC protocols. In some embodiments, the communication link 530may include an indirect link through a network, such as through one ormore routers of a LAN or WAN. In some embodiments, the communicationunit 542 may process the received communications to convert the receiveddata or control data from one communication protocol into anothercommunication protocol. In embodiments without a communication unit 542,the central controller 510 may be directly connected to thecommunication connections 546 through the communication link 530. Insuch embodiments, the communication link 530 may further be a wiredcommunication link of the same type as the communication connections546.

In further embodiments, the central controller 510 may be incorporatedwithin the master base 540. In such embodiments, a communication unit542 may be unnecessary, as the communication module 520 may communicatedirectly with the food holding chambers 560 via the communicationconnections 546. The central controller 510 in the master base 540 mayreceive data from food holding chambers 560, such as data indicating theconfiguration, operating state, connected devices (such as sensors,timers, fans, heaters, etc.), or user input (such as from a screen,switch, or button disposed within the food holding chamber 560). Thecentral controller 510 within the master base 540 may provide controldata to the food holding units 560. In particularly preferredembodiments, the central controller 510 may communicate control actionsor control commands to the unit controllers 562 of the food holdingchambers 560. Such control actions or commands may include controlparameters, such as set points or ranges for operation. For example, thecentral controller 510 may communicate set points for temperature andhumidity to the unit controller 562 of a food holding chamber 560, whichmay cause the unit controller 562 to operate elements or components ofthe food holding chamber 560 (e.g., heating elements, cooling elements,fans, sprayers, etc.) to maintain temperature and humidity at or nearthe set points received from the central controller 510. In someembodiments, such machine-level actuation of components or elementswithin the food holding chamber 560 by the unit controller 562 may occurwithout communication between the food holding unit 560 and the masterbase 540 or the central controller 510. For example, the unit controller562 may receive sensor data regarding temperature, determine anadjustment to a heating element based upon set points or operatingparameters previously received from the central controller 510, andcontrol the operation of the heating element without furthercommunication with the central controller 510. By providing operatingparameters or set points to the unit controller 562 for operation of thecomponents of the food holding chamber 560, the volume of data requiredto be communicated between the food holding chambers 560 and the centralcontroller 510 may be significantly reduced. This may further permitcontrol of a greater number of food holding chambers 560 by the centralcontroller 510 or may permit communication through a lower-bandwidthcommunication protocol or connection.

One or more expansion bases 540A may be connected to the master base 540through the power connections 544 and communication connections 546.Expansion bases 540A may similarly connect to additional expansion bases540A through the power connections 544 and communication connections546, thereby indirectly connecting the additional expansion bases 540Ato the master base 540 (and, thereby, to the central controller 510 andthe power source 550). Together with the master base 540, the expansionbases 540A may be referred to herein as the “bases.” Each expansion base540A simply serves to connect the master base 540 to additionalexpansion bases 540A or food holding chambers 560 allowing extension ofthe system in a modular fashion. In some embodiments, one or moreexpansion bases 540A may further be connected to a power source, eitheroptionally or as a requirement of proper functioning. Such additionalpower source connections to the expansion bases 540A could be used toeliminate the power connections 544 between the expansion base 540A andother bases. In such embodiments, the communication connection 546 maybe wireless connections, thereby eliminating the need for any physicalconnection between bases and allowing further extension of the modularfood holding system 500. For wireless communication, the expansion bases540A may further include communication units similar to 542 to transmitand receive data.

Each food holding chamber 560 is communicatively connected to the masterbase 540, either directly or indirectly through expansion bases 540A orother food holding chambers 560. The food holding chambers 560 may beidentical modules, configured and connected as discussed elsewhereherein. Each food holding chamber 560 may include multiple powerconnections 544 and communication connections 546. The multipleconnections may include an upstream connection and a downstreamconnection for each of the power connection 544 and communicationconnections 546. The upstream connections connect the food holdingchamber 560 to the master base 540, either directly or through anotherfood holding chamber 560 or a expansion base 540A. The downstreamconnections allow additional food holding chambers 560 to connect to themaster base 540 through the food holding chamber 560.

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary food holdingchamber 560, labeled as a food holding chamber 12 (in FIG. 5), showingthe upstream and downstream connections. The upstream and downstreamconnections are configured in such a way that a downstream food holdingchamber 12 automatically connects to the upstream food holding chamber12 when physically connected forming a food holding unit 14, asdiscussed elsewhere herein. In the illustrated embodiment, thedownstream connections are disposed near the top of the food holdingchamber 12, and the upstream connections are disposed in a correspondinglocation near the bottom of the food holding chamber 12. The exemplarydownstream connections include a downstream power connection by thepower port 60 (shown as a female 3-prong power connection socket) and adownstream communication connection by the communication ports 62 (shownas a female RJ45 or 8P8C connection socket). Correspondingly, theupstream connections include an upstream power connection by the powerplug 66 (shown as a male 3-prong power connection plug) and a downstreamcommunication connection by the communications plug 68 (shown as a maleRJ45 or 8P8C connection plug). When a downstream food holding chamber 12is stacked atop an upstream food holding chamber 12 and slid into place,the upstream connection plugs are inserted into the downstreamconnection sockets, thereby connecting the downstream food holdingchamber 12 to the master base 18 through the upstream food holdingchamber 12. As further illustrated in FIG. 4, each base in the exemplarymodular food holding system 500 may include upstream power connectionsas the power port 28 and upstream communication connections as thecommunications port 30 disposed at a corresponding location near the topof the base 18 to connect to upstream connections of a food holdingchamber 12. Although food holding chambers 560, 12 may include multipleconfigurations or designs, the food holding chambers 560, 12 may also beidentical (or functionally identical, with only non-functional designdifferences) in a preferred embodiment.

Returning to FIG. 34, the food holding chambers 560 may contain variouscombinations of elements or components, including sensors 564, heatingelements 566, fans 568, or displays 570. These elements of the foodholding chambers 560 may be permanently or removably disposed within orconnected to the food holding chambers 560. Additionally, the elementsmay be directly connected to the power connections 544 or communicationconnections 546, or they may be indirectly connected thereto by a unitcontroller 562. The elements may be controlled by or based upon controlcommands from the unit controller 562 and/or the central controller 510to adjust the physical environment within the food holding chamber 560(e.g., using a heating element 566, a fan 568, a cooling element (notshown), or a toasting element (not shown)), generate data associatedwith the food holding chamber 560 (e.g., using a sensor 564), presentinformation regarding the food holding chamber 560 (e.g., using adisplay 570), or take other actions.

The one or more sensors 564 may include devices for generating orcollecting data associated with some aspect of a food holding chamber560, including thermometers, humidistats, scales, position sensors,photosensors, user-operated or automatic switches, buttons, dials, orother similar devices. The sensors 564 may be configured to measure orgenerate data regarding the environment within the food holding chamber560, such as temperature, humidity, volatility, or load status (e.g.,contents type, weight, whether empty or loaded, etc.). In someembodiments, such sensor data may be collected and analyzed by a unitcontroller 562 in the food holding chamber 560.

In some embodiments, the sensors 564 may include smart sensors thatsense characteristics of the environment within the food holding chamber560. For example, the sensors 564 may comprise humidity sensors,electronic nose sensors that are capable of detecting food decompositionproducts (e.g., sulphur, amines, aldehydes, ethanol, ethylene, metaloxides, etc. by using gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and/orolfactometry) to determine the freshness of the food items stored withinthe food holding chamber 560, temperature sensors that directly measurethe temperature of the environment within the food holding chamber 560,and load sensors that detect the presence of food items within the foodholding chamber 560. The sensors 564 may be located anywhere in oraround the food holding chamber 560, as long as the sensor is capable ofdirectly measuring a characteristic of the environment within the foodholding chamber 560 (e.g., within a headspace of a food holding tray).For example, the sensors 564 may be located underneath a cover of a foodpan that is located within the food holding chamber 560, or built into afood pan itself that is located within the food holding chamber 560(e.g., the sensor 564 may be mounted in a handle of the food pan and influid/gaseous communication with pan contents via a hole in the pan).The sensors 564 may transmit sensed data to the chamber base by a wiredconnection or by a wireless connection. The load sensors may compriseone or more of load cells, sonar detectors, and cameras.

The sensors 564 allow food stored within the food holding chamber 560 tobe stored in a stasis mode, which prevents further cooking of the foodwhile inhibiting bacterial growth. Generally, food has to be stored atless than 40° F. or greater than 140° F. (which is commonly referred toas a food safe zone, and which may be defined in the NSF as a minimumfood safety temperature) to prevent rapid bacterial growth and or tominimize microbial growth. Additionally, the sensors 564 may communicatewith a display (such as the display 590 of FIGS. 18-33) and the displaymay display a symbolic representation of the quality of food that isstored within the food holding chamber based on information receivedfrom the sensor. For example, the display may include color codedquality indications (e.g., green, yellow, red) that are based on thedecomposition products detected in the food holding chamber.

The one or more heating elements 566 may include metal, ceramic,composite, or other heating elements for heating or cooling the interiorof the food holding module 560. The one or more fans 568 may includeaxial fans, centrifugal fans, cross-flow fans, bellows, or other meansof venting or circulating air within the food holding module 560. Theone or more displays 570 may include LCD display screens, touch screendisplays, LED displays, indicator lights, or other information displaydevices. Additionally, or alternatively, other types of elements may beincluded in one or more of the food holding chambers 560, such asspeakers, sirens, buzzers, etc.

In some embodiments, some or all of the food holding chambers 560 mayinclude one or more food holding trays 24, as illustrated in FIGS. 38A-Band 37A-C. Each food holding tray 24 may be configured to fit within acavity 22 of a food holding chamber 12, as illustrated in FIG. 3. FIG.38A illustrates a perspective view of an exemplary food holding tray 24that may be used to store contents within a food holding chamber 560,such as a food holding chamber 12 (FIG. 1). In some embodiments, thefood holding tray 24 may include a handle 582, which may be formed as anintegral part of or attached to the food holding tray 24. In someembodiments, the handle 582 may be removably attached to the foodholding tray 24 by any known means, such that the handle 582 may bedetached from the food holding tray 24. This may allow the food holdingtray 24 or the handle 582 to be separately cleaned, replaced, or used.FIG. 38B illustrates the exemplary food holding tray 24 and handle 582when detached. The detachability of the handle 582 may be particularadvantageous in embodiments in which one or more sensors 564 aredisposed within the handle 582. In addition to the handle 582, the foodholding tray 24 may include a lip 584 extending beyond the perimeter ofthe side walls of the food holding tray 24. The lip 584 may beconfigured to hold the food holding tray 24 in place within the foodholding chamber 560, may allow the attachment of a lid (not shown) toseal the food holding tray 24, or for other uses.

FIG. 39A illustrates a top plan view of the exemplary food holding tray24, wherein the handle 582 includes a sensor 564. The sensor 564 mayinclude any type of sensor described or referenced herein, and thesensor 564 may be configured to measure or generate data regarding theenvironment within the food holding tray 24 (and, thereby, theenvironment within the food holding chamber 560). For example, a heatsensor 564 may be included within a portion of the handle 582 thatadjoins or connects to the food holding tray 24 in order to monitor thetemperature within the food holding tray 24. Although shown as disposedwithin a portion of the handle 582 adjacent or near the food holdingtray 24, the sensor 564 could be alternatively disposed at any locationwithin the handle 24. In other embodiments (not shown), one or moresensors 564 may be disposed within the food holding tray 24. In suchembodiments, the one or more sensors 564 within the food holding tray 24may be additional to, or alternative to, the sensor 564 within thehandle 582. However disposed, the one or more sensors 564 may becommunicatively connected to the master base 540, either directly orindirectly. Such connections may include power connections 544 orcommunication connections 546. Such connections may also includewireless connections, whereby the one or more sensors 564 disposedwithin the handle 582 may be wirelessly connected to the master base540, the unit controller 562 of the corresponding food holding chamber560, or directly to the central controller 510. In some embodiments, theone or more sensors 564 may be communicatively connected to the unitcontroller 562 of the food holding unit 560, which may further becommunicatively connected to the master base 540.

In embodiments in which the one or more sensors 564 within food holdingtray 24 or the handle 582, the food holding tray 24 may further includeone or more power connections 544 or communication connections 546. FIG.39B illustrates a bottom view of the exemplary food holding tray 24,showing a power connection 544 and a communication connection 546 laidalong the bottom surface of the food holding tray 24. The powerconnection 544 and communication connection 546 are illustrated asconductive paths plated onto or affixed to the bottom surface of thefood holding tray 24 in such manner as to be exposed to connectorswithin the food holding chamber 560. The one or more sensors 564 mayconnect to the power connection 544 and communication connection 546when the handle 582 is connected to the food holding tray 24, allowingthe one or more sensors 564 disposed within the handle 582 to becommunicatively connected to the unit controller 562 of the food holdingchamber 560 or the master base 540 through the food holding chamber 560via power connections 544 and communication connections 546. Althoughonly one conductive path for each connection 544 and 546 is shown,additional paths may be added for both or either. For example, anaddition conductive path (not shown) for a common ground may be addedbetween the illustrated conductive paths. FIG. 39C illustrates anotherbottom view of an exemplary embodiment of the food holding tray 24,wherein the power connection 544 and the communication connection 546are disposed as conductive paths on the bottom of the lip 584 of thefood holding tray 24. Such embodiment may be particularly useful wherethe food holding tray 24 rests in the food holding chamber 560 such thatthe lip 584 sits upon a ledge or notch within the food holding chamber560, ensuring a physical connection between the lip 584 and the foodholding chamber 560.

Although two exemplary configurations of the power connections 544 andcommunication connections 546 are illustrated, numerous other similarconfigurations may be used consistently with the disclosure herein. Forexample, the connections 544 and 546 may include one or more conductingpads (not shown) along the bottom surface of the food holding tray 24 toincrease the stability of the connections. As another example, a ground(not shown) for the one or more connections 544 or 546 may be disposedalong the lip 584 of the food holding tray 24. As yet another example,the entire bottom surface of the food holding tray 24 may form oneconnection 544 or 546 (such as by an unbroken conductive surface), withthe lip 584 of the food holding tray 24 forming a ground or anotherconnection 544 or 546. Regardless of their configuration, theconnections 544 and 546 may be made of any appropriate conductivematerial, such as metals, composites, conducting polymers,semiconductors, or any other appropriate materials. The connections 544and 546 may further be embedded into the food holding tray 24, attachedwith adhesives or other means, or otherwise affixed to or integratedinto the food holding tray 24. Throughout this specification, referencesto sensors, communications, connections, or data generation or receiptin a food holding chamber 560 should be understood to include the sameoccurring in or at a food holding tray 24 (or a handle 582 of the foodholding tray 24), in accordance with the preceding description.

Returning to FIG. 34, some or all food holding chambers 560 may includeunit controllers 562, in some embodiments, which may be connected to thepower connections 544 and communication connections 546 of the foodholding chambers 560. The unit controller 562 may receive controlcommunications from the central controller 510 and operate one or moreelements disposed within the food holding chamber 560. Operation of theone or more elements disposed within the food holding module 560 by theunit controller 562 may occur with or without communication between theunit controller 562 and the master base 540. With such communication,for example, a control command to reduce power to a heating element 566to decrease temperature in a food holding chamber 560 may be received atthe unit controller 562, which may control the power received by theheating element 566. In response to receiving the control command, theunit controller 562 may reduce the power received by the heating element566. Without such communication, however, the unit controller 562 mayreceive sensor data regarding temperature, determine whether to increaseor decrease temperature in the food holding chamber 560 based upon atarget temperature (e.g., a temperature parameter or set point),determine a corresponding increase or decrease in power to the heatingelement 566, and cause the power supplied to the heating element to beadjusted accordingly. Although operation of the one or more elements ofthe food holding chamber 560 may not involve communication between theunit controller 562 and the master base 540, the unit controller 562 maybe received from the central controller 510 of or through the masterbase 540.

In a similar manner, the unit controller 562 may control a sensor 564, afan 568, a display 570, or other elements or components of the foodholding chamber 560 (including elements or components of a food holdingtray 24). In some embodiments, the unit controller 562 may communicatedata regarding the food holding module 560 through the upstreamcommunication connection 546 and the master base 540 to the centralcontroller 510 via the communication link 530. Such data may indicatethe location or configuration of the food holding module 560. Thecentral controller 510 may use this data to determine a configuration orarrangement of the one or more food holding chambers 560 of the modularfood holding system 500. The central controller 510 may further providecontrol commands, control actions, operating parameters, or set pointsto the unit controller 562.

Although the food holding chambers 560 may include a variety ofelectrical or electronic elements, including those discussed above, theelements may be limited in some embodiments for reliability or cost. Insome embodiments, therefore, the electrical elements may include onlyone or more of the following elements (plus the necessary wiring orother connections for the power connections 544 and the communicationconnections 546): a timer switch, a heating element, a fan, or anindicator light. In additional embodiments, the limited electricalelements may further include one or more unit controllers 562. Infurther embodiments, the electrical elements of the food holdingchambers 560 may include any one or more elements or components forsensing or adjusting one or more aspects of the environment within thefood holding chambers 506, but the unit controller 562 of each foodholding chamber 562 may be configured to require operating parameters,set points, or control commands from the central controller 510.

As discussed above, the master base 540 may be communicatively connectedto the central controller 510 by the communication link 530, or thecentral controller 510 may be incorporated within the master base 540.The central controller 510 may be a general- or special-purposecomputing device, such as a desktop computer, notebook computer, tabletcomputer, smart phone, other mobile device, or wearable computingdevice. In some embodiments, the central controller 510 may beconfigured to physically connect to a socket or plug of the master base540, such that the central controller 510 forms a fixed or adjustablepart of the modular food holding system 500. In other embodiments, thecentral controller 510 may be wired to or wirelessly connected to themaster base 540. Through the master base 540, the central controller 510receives data from and transmits data to the one or more food holdingchambers 560 of the modular food holding system 500, such asconfiguration information or operating parameters. In some embodiments,the central controller 510 may be mounted at a fixed location withrespect to the modular food holding system 500, such as on top of one ormore food holding chambers 560, hanging below one or more bases, etc. Inalternative embodiments where the central controller 510 is wirelesslyconnected to the master base 540, a storage slot (not shown) may furtherbe provided to hold the central controller 510 when not in use.

The central controller 510 may include a display 512 for presentinginformation to an operator. In some embodiments, the display may be atouch screen display, configured to receive input from the operator. Infurther embodiments, the central controller 510 may include an inputdevice, such as a keyboard, mouse, microphone, or touch pad. The centralcontroller 510 may further include one or more processors 514 toreceive, process, generate, determine, transmit, and store data. The oneor more processors of the central controller 510 may access a randomaccess memory (RAM) and a memory 516 for storing an operating system,software programs, applications, routines, scripts, or other data. Thememory 516 may be a non-transitory computer readable memory, storinginstructions executed by the one or more processors 514. In someembodiments, the central controller 510 may also include, or otherwisebe communicatively connected to, other data storage mechanisms (e.g.,one or more hard disk drives, optical storage drives, solid statestorage devices, etc.) that reside within the central controller 510 orare connected thereto via a computer network. Moreover, in thin-clientimplementations, additional processing and data storage may be providedby one or more servers (not shown) connected via a network.

In some embodiments, the central controller 510 may further include acommunication module 520 for communicating with the communication unit542 of the master base 540 or directly with the food holding chambers560 via the communication link 530 and the communication connections546. The communication module 520 may further transmit and receive wiredor wireless communications with the master base 510 or external devices(not shown), using any suitable wireless communication protocol network,such as a wireless telephony network (e.g., GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc.), aWi-Fi network (802.11 standards), a WiMAX network, a Bluetooth network,etc. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication module 520 mayalso be capable of communicating using a near field communicationstandard (e.g., ISO/IEC 18092, standards provided by the NFC Forum,etc.) The components of the central controller 510 (including thedisplay 512, processor 514, memory 516, RAM 518, and communicationcomponent 520) may be interconnected via an address/data bus or othermeans.

In some embodiments, the communication module 520 may be configured tofacilitate communication between multiple central controllers 510. Infurther embodiments, the communication module 520 may be configured toreceive data from a static or dynamic data source configured by anothercentral controller 510. For example, a desktop or laptop computer may beused as a first central controller 510 to configure operating parametersfor the food holding chambers 560 of the modular food holding system500, and information related to such configuration of the operatingparameters of the food holding chambers 560 may be transferred to asecond central controller 510 for communication and implementationwithin the modular food holding system 500. Such second centralcontroller 510 may include a central controller 510 incorporated withinthe master base 540, which may receive the configuration information viathe communication module 520. In some embodiments, such transfer ofconfiguration information may include uploading the information from thefirst central controller 510 to a storage device (e.g., a flash memorydrive, a USB memory device, or a network drive), then downloading theconfiguration information to the second central controller 510 from thestorage device. In some such embodiments, the second central controller510 incorporated within the master base 540 may omit the display 512 orhave only limited display functionality.

In further embodiments, multiple central controllers 510 may beconnected to the master base 540 through one or more communication links530. This may allow multiple devices or operators to simultaneouslycontrol the modular food holding system 500. In further embodiments,multiple modular food holding systems 500 may be communicativelyconnected to one or more central controllers 510 through one or morecommunication links 530 to the master bases 540 of each modular foodholding system 500. For example, a commercial kitchen may have severalmodular food holding systems 500 positioned at different locations inthe kitchen, each of which includes a master base 540 and one or morefood holding chambers 560. Each master base 540 may be physically orwireless connected to a central controller 510 dedicated to control ofthe modular food holding system 500 corresponding to the particularmaster base 540. Additionally, some or all of the master bases 540 mayfurther be communicatively connected to an additional central controller510. Such additional central controllers 510 may also be configured tocontrol only one modular food holding system 500 or may instead beconfigured to control a plurality of modular food holding systems 500.The former configuration may allow multiple central controllers 510,such as those positioned at opposite ends of a long row of food holdingchambers 560 for easy access by one or more operators. The latterconfiguration may allow a central operator to monitor or controlmultiple modular food holding systems 500 located around the kitchenfrom a central location, such as a manager's office.

FIG. 35 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary monitoring method 600for monitoring a modular food holding system 500 (FIG. 34). The modularfood holding system 500 may implement this method to monitor and controlthe one or more food holding chambers 560 in conjunction with one ormore central controllers 510. The method 600 may begin by connecting oneor more food holding chambers 560 to the master base 540, eitherdirectly or indirectly, at block 602. The master base 540 may then becommunicatively connected to the central controller 510 at block 604.Until operation of the modular food holding system 500 is determined tobe complete at block 612, the method 600 may then continue tocommunicate data and control the operation of one or more elementswithin the one or more food holding chambers 560. The one or more foodholding chambers 560 may communicate data to the central controller 510via the master base 540 at block 606. The one or more food holdingchambers 560 may then receive control commands from the centralcontroller 510 via the master base 540 at block 608 and may implementthe control commands at block 610. Once operation of the modular foodholding system 500 is determined to be complete at block 612, the method600 may terminate.

At block 602, the method 600 may begin with the connection of one ormore food holding chambers 560 to the master base 540. As discussedabove, the food holding chambers 560 may be connected to the master base540 via power connections 544 and communication connections 546 throughone or more other food holding chambers 560 or expansion bases 540A.

At block 604, the master base 540 may be connected to the centralcontroller 510. This connection may be made by a wired or wirelessconnection via the communication link 530. The connection may beestablished by either the central controller 510 or the master base 540in various embodiments. In some embodiments, the central controller 510may establish a communicative connection with the one or more foodholding chambers 560 through the master base 540, such as by polling theunit controllers 562 of the food holding chambers 560 to determine theconfiguration or arrangement of the modular food holding system 500. Asdiscussed above, the master base 540 may include a central controller510, in which case the communication connection may be to a furthercentral controller 510 having the same or additional functionality.

At block 606, the master base 540 may communicate data regarding the oneor more food holding chambers 560 to the central controller 510 throughthe communication link 530. In some embodiments, the one or more foodholding modules 560 may generate and communicate the data directlythrough the master base 540. In other embodiments, the master base 540may receive and convert data from the one or more food holding chambers560 prior to transmitting the data to the central controller 510. Thedata may include information regarding the temperature, humidity, heatsource location, or sensor data from one or more sensors 564 disposedwithin the one or more food holding chambers 560, as well as otherinformation regarding the one or more food holding chambers 560. Infurther embodiments, the data may indicate the position, configuration,location, or arrangement of the one or more food holding chambers 560within the modular food holding system 500. In yet further embodiments,the data may include information regarding general operatingconfigurations of the one or more food holding chambers 560, such asoperating parameters, operating status (e.g., whether the food holdingchamber 560 has been turned on, is operating correctly, etc.), or a codeidentifying one of a plurality of pre-set operating modes (including aplurality of operating parameters or set points). In embodiments whereinthe master base 540 includes a central controller 510, the data may bereceived from the food holding chambers 560 by the central controller510 within the master base 540. The central controller 510 within themaster base 540 may then determine whether to further communicate thedata to an external central controller 510 or to perform controlfunctions within the master base 540.

At block 608, the one or more food holding chambers 560 may receive oneor more control commands from the central controller 510. The controlcommands may be generated by the central controller 510 and transmittedvia the communication link 530 through or from the master base 540 tothe one or more food holding chambers 560. Where applicable, the controlcommands may be received at the unit controllers 562 of one or more foodholding chambers 560. Additionally, or alternatively, the controlcommands may be received by the elements disposed within the one or morefood holding chambers 560 (e.g., sensors 564, heating elements 566, fans568, displays 570, or other elements). Where the control commands arereceived by the unit controllers 562, the control commands may includeelement operation commands (directly controlling components or elementsdisposed within the food holding chambers 560) or operating parameters(establishing set points, targets, ranges, or conditions for the unitcontrollers 562 to use in operating the components or elements disposedwithin the food holding chambers 560).

At block 610, the one or more food holding chambers 560 may implementthe received control commands. Implementation of the control commandsmay include taking one or more of the following actions using one ormore elements disposed within the one or more food holding chambers 560:presenting an alert, illuminating an indicator light, displaying acountdown, controlling the temperature, or controlling the humidity. Insome embodiments, the actions may be controlled by the unit controller562 in response to receiving one or more control commands. Inparticularly preferred embodiments, the unit controller 562 will operatethe food holding chamber 560 to adjust the environment within the foodholding chamber 560 (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.) using one ormore electrical components or elements of the food holding chamber 560based upon operating parameters or set points received from the centralcontroller 510 as control commands.

At block 612, the method 600 may determine whether operation of themodular food holding system 500 is complete. Determining whetheroperation is complete may include receiving a signal indicating furtheroperation or discontinuance of operation from the central controller510. This may include a determination to terminate operation based uponexpiration of a timer or due to an emergency shut-down condition beingreached. Alternatively, determining whether operation is complete mayinclude continuing operation until power is switched off or the powersource 550 is removed. When operation is not complete, the method 600may continue with communicating further data regarding the one or morefood holding chambers 560 at block 606. When operation is determined tobe complete, the method 600 may terminate.

FIG. 36 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary communication method700 for a central controller 510 connected to a modular food holdingsystem 500. The method 700 may be implemented by one or more centralcontrollers 510 to monitor one or more modular food holding systems 500.The method 700 may begin by establishing a communicative connectionbetween the central controller 510 and the master base 540 of themodular food holding system 500 at block 702. Once the connection isestablished, the central controller 510 may receive data from one ormore food holding chambers 560 through the communicative connection atblock 704. Based upon the received data, the central controller 510 maythen determine an arrangement of the one or more food holding chambers560 of the modular food holding system 500 at block 706. The centralcontroller 510 may further determine additional information regardingthe one or more food holding chambers 560 at block 708. Then thedetermined arrangement or other information may be presented to a userat block 710. The method 700 may then end, or the central controller 510may continue to receive data, determine arrangement or other informationregarding the one or more food holding chambers 560, and present theinformation to the user while the modular food holding system 500 is inoperation.

At block 702, the method 700 may begin with establishing thecommunicative connection between the central controller 510 and themodular food holding system 500 through the master base 540. Theconnection may be established by either the controller 510 or the masterbase 540. In some embodiments, the controller 510 or the master base 540may automatically attempt to establish a connection when powered up orwhen no connections are found. In other embodiments, the user may directthe central controller 510 or the master base 540 to establish thecommunicative connection. The communicative connection may beestablished through the communication link 530, which may be wired orwireless, as well as direct or indirect, as further discussed above.

At block 704, the central controller 510 may receive data from the oneor more food holding chambers 560 of the modular food holding system500. The data may be received via the communicative connection over thecommunication link 530. As discussed elsewhere herein, the centralcontroller 510 receives the data through the master base 540, which isfurther directly or indirectly connected to the one or more food holdingchambers 560. The data may include data from one or more sensors 564disposed within the one or more food holding chambers 560, which sensordata may indicate environmental conditions within the one or more foodholding chambers 560. Additionally, or alternatively, the data mayinclude data from unit controllers 562, indicating the arrangement,operating status, operating parameters, or capabilities of the foodholding chambers 560. The data may include information regarding thetemperature, humidity, heat source location, or other informationregarding the one or more food holding chambers 560. Additionally, oralternatively, the data may indicate the position, configuration,location, or arrangement of the one or more food holding chambers 560within the modular food holding system 500.

At block 706, the central controller 510 may determine a physicalarrangement of the one or more food holding chambers 560 based upon thedata received at block 704. This may include determining whether anyexpansion bases 540A are connected to the master base 540, as well asdetermining how many food holding chambers 560 are connected to eachbase. In some embodiments, this may further include determiningconfiguration information for one or more of the food holding chambers560, such as a model or serial number of the food holding chambers 560.This configuration information may also include information regardingwhether the food holding chamber 560 includes a unit controller 562 orincludes one or more elements disposed within the food holding chamber560 (e.g., sensors 564, heating elements 566, fans 568, or displays570). Several exemplary physical arrangements of the food holdingchambers 560 in a modular food holding system are illustrated in FIG. 2,as well as in FIGS. 16-33.

At block 708, the central controller 510 may determine additionalinformation regarding the one or more food holding chambers 560 basedupon the data received at block 704. The additional information mayinclude the configuration information described above or otherinformation regarding the food holding chambers 560 or their currentstate. Such additional information may include environmental conditioninformation (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.), unit contentinformation (e.g., type or quantity of food contents, duration ofoperation, time elapsed since last open, time elapsed since contentsplaced in unit, time remaining until contents expire, etc.), operationalstatus (e.g., powered, unpowered, operational, malfunctioning, etc.), orother information regarding the food holding chambers 560 or theircontents. In some embodiments, this additional information may includeoperating parameters, operating status, or similar information regardingthe operation of the food holding chamber 560 by the associated unitcontroller 562. The additional information may further be determined inpart based upon additional data entered by the user, stored in thememory 516 of the central controller 510, or accessed by the centralcontroller 510 (e.g., from a local or remote database connected via anetwork). In some embodiments, the additional information may includeone or more control options to be presented to the user, which controloptions may be associated with control commands to control the actionsof elements of the food holding chambers 560, as described furtherelsewhere herein.

At block 710, the central controller 510 may present, or cause to bepresented, information regarding the modular food holding system 500 tothe user. This may include presenting some or all of the arrangementinformation determined at block 706 and the additional informationdetermined at block 708 regarding the one or more food holding chambers560. For example, the information regarding the physical arrangement ofthe food holding chambers 560 may be presented by displaying arepresentation (e.g., a box or icon) of each food holding chamber 560 onthe display 512, arranged to represent the physical location of eachunit within the modular food holding system 500. Information regardingthe operation or contents of each food holding chamber 560 may similarlybe presented using icons, text, colors, shapes, or other means on thedisplay 512. In some embodiments, the additional information may bepresented in multiple screens or windows, in a drill-down fashion, usingpop-up boxes, or in other configurations that allow the user to viewinformation regarding all or only part of the modular food holdingsystem 500. For example, the central controller 510 may present thearrangement of all the food holding chambers 560 to the user, but maypresent more detailed information about a particular food holdingchamber 560 in a different screen upon user selection of the particularfood holding chamber 560.

FIGS. 19-25 illustrate exemplary control screens 590 representingphysical arrangements of food holding chambers 560 via the display 512of the central controller 510. FIGS. 19-25 further illustrate exemplarycontrol screens 590 presenting additional information regarding the oneor more food holding chambers 560 to the user. Referring now to FIGS.19-25, the exemplary control screen 590 represents information regardingboth the configuration of four food holding chambers 560, as well aspictorial indicators of the contents of each food holding chamber 560.In various embodiments, other means of presenting the additionalinformation in control screens 590 may be used, as noted above. Suchinformation may be used by the user to operate the modular food holdingsystem 500, as further discussed below. In any of the embodimentsherein, the information may be alternatively, or additionally, presentedusing the display 512 of the central controller 510, or through othermeans. For example, the central controller 510 may cause someinformation to be presented to the user via one or more displays 570 ofthe food holding modules 560.

FIG. 37 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary control method 800for a central controller 510 connected to a modular food holding system500. The method 800 may be used in connection with or alternatively tomethod 700 discussed above, and some aspects of each may be incorporatedin the other. Like the method 700, the method 800 may be implemented bya central controller 510 communicatively connected to a modular foodholding system 500 via a communication link 530. The method 800 maybegin at block 802 by receiving data from one or more food holdingcambers 560. Based upon the received data, one or more control optionsmay be determined at block 804 and presented to a user at block 806.Upon receiving a user selection of one or more control options at block808, the central controller 510 may determine one or more controlactions based upon the received selection at block 810. Depending upon adetermination at block 812 of whether the determined control actionsrequire communication to the food holding chambers 560, the centralcontroller 510 may implement the control actions at block 814 orgenerate a control command at block 816 and transmit the control commandto the food holding chambers 560 at block 818. The central controller510 may further present, or cause to be presented, information regardingthe one or more control actions to the user at block 820. The method 800may repeat until operation of the modular food holding system 500 isdetermined to be complete at block 822, at which point the method 800may terminate.

At block 802, the central controller 510 may receive data from one ormore food holding chambers 560 through the master base 540 and thecommunicative connection over the communication link 530. In someembodiments, this may include establishing a communicative connectionbetween the central controller 510 and the master base 540, as discussedabove. In further embodiments, the central controller 510 may beincorporated within the master base 540, in which case the data may bereceived by the central controller 510 of the master base 540. Asdiscussed further elsewhere herein, the data received by the centralcontroller 510 may include data from one or more sensors 564 disposedwithin the food holding chambers 560, data regarding environmentalconditions within the food holding chambers 560 (e.g., temperature,humidity, heat source location, ventilation, etc.), data regardingconfiguration of the food holding chambers 560 (e.g., elements disposedwithin the units, operation of the elements, arrangement of the units,etc.), operational status of the food holding chambers 560 (e.g.,powered, unpowered, ready, operational, malfunctioning, etc.), operatingparameters of the food holding chambers 560 (e.g., temperature,humidity, load, or duration set points), or data regarding food contentsof the food holding chambers 560 (e.g., type or quantity of foodcontents, duration of operation, time elapsed since last open, timeelapsed since contents placed in unit, time remaining until contentsexpire, etc.).

At block 804, the central controller 510 may determine one or morecontrol options associated with the one or more food holding chambers560 based upon the data received at block 802. The one or more controloptions may be associated with control actions that may directly orindirectly affect the operation or control of the one or more foodholding chambers 560. Direct operational control may include causing anelement disposed within a food holding chamber 560 to start, stop,increase, or decrease operation in order to achieve a change toenvironmental conditions within the food holding chamber 560. Indirectoperational control may include providing or adjusting an operatingparameter used by the unit controller 562 of a food holding chamber 560to adjust environmental conditions within the food holding chamber 560.The control options may also allow the user to view or access additionalinformation regarding some or all of the food holding chambers 560. Insome embodiments, the control options may further include options toconnect to or disconnect from one or more additional modular foodholding systems 500, retrieve historical operating data, accesstroubleshooting information, send information to another user, requestinformation from another user, or perform or schedule maintenance on themodular food holding system 500. In further embodiments, the centralcontroller 510 may determine to present only a subset of the set of allavailable control options to the user, which subset may be based upon auser role or access level. Additionally, or alternatively, controloptions not presented may be accessible by the user through one or moremenus in some embodiments.

At block 806, the central controller 510 may cause the one or morecontrol options to be presented to the user. The one or more controloptions may be presented using the display 512 of the central controller510. Additionally, or alternatively, other means of presenting theoptions to the user may be used in some embodiments, such as the display570 of one or more food holding chambers 560 or other displays. In someinstances, one or more of the control options may be suggested orrecommended to the user, such as a control option setting a timer for afood holding chamber 560 based upon data indicating that new foodcontent was recently placed in the food holding chamber 560. Where oneor more of the determined control options is critical or time sensitive,the central controller 510 may further alert the user to the controloptions by also presenting an alert or alarm.

At block 808, the central controller 510 may receive a selection fromthe user of one or more control options. For example, the user mayselect an option to change a group of operating parameters associatedwith one or more of the food holding chambers 560 in order to adjust theenvironment and operations of the food holding chambers 560 to receivedifferent food (e.g., when changing between an arrangement configuredfor breakfast foods and an arrangement configured for lunch foods). Theselection may be received by an input device of the central controller510. In a preferred embodiment, the input device may be combined withthe display 512 as a touch screen display. Such embodiment offers theadvantages of simplicity, flexibility in the input configuration, andefficient space usage. Other input devices may be used in addition to,or as alternatives to, a touch screen, including buttons, keyboards,keypads, of other known or later-developed input devices. In someembodiments, the central controller 510 may receive an indirect userselection in the form of data received from one or more food holdingchambers 560. For example, the user may remove a holding bin from a foodholding chamber 560, thereby indicating to the central controller 510that food contents have been removed or discarded or that the heatingelements of the food holding chamber 560 should be turned off. The usermay similarly interact with a display 570, button, switch, or otherelement of a food holding chamber 560 to select a control option in someembodiments.

At block 810, the central controller 510 may determine one or morecontrol actions to be taken based upon the user selection of one or morecontrol options received at block 808. The control actions may relate tothe direct or indirect control of one or more of the food holdingchambers 560, as discussed herein. Some control actions may involvedirect or indirect adjustments to the operation of one or more elementsof a food holding chamber 560, such as controlling the speed of a fan568 or adjusting a set point for humidity within the food holdingchamber 560. Other control actions may be implemented to provideinformation to the user for use in operating the modular food holdingsystem 500, such as setting a timer to alert the user when the contentsof a food holding container have expired or setting an alarm to soundwhen a food holding chamber 560 has reached a desired temperature. Thecontrol actions may include one or more of the following: setting atimer, presenting an alert, illuminating an indicator light, displayinga countdown, presenting an option to select a type of food stored withinthe one or more food holding chambers 560, controlling the temperaturewithin the one or more food holding chambers 560, controlling thehumidity within the one or more food holding chambers 560, configuringoperating parameters or set points of the one or more food holdingchambers 560, or otherwise configuring the one or more food holdingchambers 560. Thus, the determined control actions may include actionsto be implemented at a food holding chamber 560 or at the centralcontroller 510. Similarly, the determined control actions to beimplemented at the food holding chamber 560 may include control actionsthat directly operate the components or elements disposed therein (e.g.,heating elements, fans, etc.) or control actions that control theoperation of the unit controller 562 disposed therein to control thecomponents or elements (e.g., adjusting a temperature set point, settinga target humidity level, etc.).

At block 812, the central controller 510 may determine whether eachcontrol action determined at block 810 requires communication to thefood holding chambers 560. For example, control actions involvingconfiguration of the unit controller 562 or operation of a heatingelement 566, a fan 568, a display 570, or another element disposedwithin a food holding chamber 560 will require communication to the foodholding chamber 560 of a control command. Control actions involvingproviding information, setting a timer, presenting an alert, or similaractions occurring on the central controller 510 may not requirecommunication from the central controller 510 to any food holdingchambers 560.

When the central controller 510 determines at block 812 that nocommunication to the food holding chambers 560 through the master base540 is required to implement the one or more control actions, thecentral controller 510 may implement the one or more control actions atblock 814. This may include determining additional information,presenting additional information to the user, requesting additionalinformation from the user, or communicating with another centralcontroller 510 or another user to assist the user in operating themodular food holding system 500. In some instances, this may includemonitoring future data received at the central controller 510 from theone or more food holding modules 560 to determine when a condition ismet or ceases to be met, in which case further actions may be taken bythe central controller 510. Such further actions may be implemented atthe central controller 510 or may require communication of controlcommands to one or more food holding chambers 560 at that later time.

When the central controller 510 determines at block 812 thatcommunication to the food holding chambers 560 through the master base540 is required to implement the one or more control actions, thecentral controller 510 may generate one or more control commands to oneor more food holding chambers 560 at block 816. The one or more controlcommands may include instructions that cause a unit controller 562,sensor 564, heating element 566, fan 568, display 570, or other elementdisposed within a food holding chamber 560 to adjust its operation, asdiscussed elsewhere herein. This may include controlling one or moreelements to adjust an environmental condition of the food holdingchamber 560, such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, or heat sourcelocation. Control commands may also cause an alarm or information to bepresented by a display, indicator light, buzzer, speaker, siren, orother notification element disposed within the food holding chamber 560.

Once the one or more control commands are determined at block 816, thecentral controller 510 may communicate the control commands to the oneor more food holding chambers 560. As discussed above, communication mayoccur via the communication link 530 with the master base 540 and,through the master base 540, to the one or more food holding chambers560. In embodiments in which a central controller 510 is incorporatedwithin the master base 540, the communication may occur through or fromsuch incorporated central controller 510 to the one or more food holdingchambers 560. The relevant elements of the one or more food holdingchambers 560 may then implement the control commands to adjust theoperation of the food holding chambers 560 to which the one or morecontrol commands are addressed or directed.

In addition to implementing the control actions at the centralcontroller 510 or the one or more food holding chambers 560, the method800 may include presentation of information regarding the one or morecontrol actions to the user at block 820. As above, presentation of theinformation may include presentation via the display 512 of a centralcontroller 510 or one or more displays 570 of the food holding chambers560. The information presented to the user may include additionalinformation regarding one or more food holding chambers 560, such ascondition, status, environment, contents, or operation. The informationmay also assist the user in operating the modular food holding system500, such as by presenting a countdown, a timer, instructions,recommendations, or other information regarding use or quality of thecontents of the one or more food holding chambers 560. The presentationof information to the user may further server to verify receipt,communication, or implementation of the user selection of a controloption.

At block 822, the method 800 may determine whether operation of themodular food holding system 500 is complete. Determining whetheroperation is complete may include receiving a signal indicating furtheroperation or discontinuance of operation at the central controller 510.Such signal may be generated automatically (e.g., upon disconnection ofthe communicative connection with the master base 540) or may bereceived from the user. Determining whether operation is complete mayinclude continuing operation until power is switched off or the powersource 550 is removed. When operation is not complete, the method 800may continue with receiving further data regarding the one or more foodholding chambers 560 at block 802. When operation is determined to becomplete, the method 800 may terminate. In some embodiments, a record ofthe operating session may be saved in the memory 816 or transmitted to aremote memory, such as a server.

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in exemplaryconfigurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component.Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single componentmay be implemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as includinglogic or a number of routines, subroutines, applications, orinstructions. These may constitute either software (code embodied on anon-transitory, tangible machine-readable medium) or hardware. Inhardware, the routines, etc., are tangible units capable of performingcertain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certainmanner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwaremodules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group ofprocessors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware module that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implementedmechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module maycomprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured(e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gatearray (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) toperform certain operations. A hardware module may also compriseprogrammable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within ageneral-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that istemporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. Itwill be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware modulemechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations.

Accordingly, the term “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments inwhich hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed),each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated atany one instance in time. For example, where the hardware modulescomprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respective differenthardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configurea processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module atone instance of time and to constitute a different hardware module at adifferent instance of time.

Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules may be regarded as being directly or indirectly communicativelycoupled through a wired or wireless communication link. Where multipleof such hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may beachieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) that connect the hardware modules. In embodiments in whichmultiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated at differenttimes, communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. Forexample, one hardware module may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a latertime, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modulesreferred to herein may, in some example embodiments, compriseprocessor-implemented modules.

Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be at leastpartially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented hardware modules. The performance of certain ofthe operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors maybe located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, anoffice environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments theprocessors may be distributed across a number of locations.

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine,but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments,the one or more processors or processor-implemented modules may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the one or more processors or processor-implemented modulesmay be distributed across a number of geographic locations.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein using wordssuch as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“presenting,” “displaying,” or the like may refer to actions orprocesses of a machine (e.g., a computer) that manipulates or transformsdata represented as physical (e.g., electronic, magnetic, or optical)quantities within one or more memories (e.g., volatile memory,non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or othermachine components that receive, store, transmit, or displayinformation.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

Some embodiments may be described using the expression “coupled” and“connected” along with their derivatives. For example, some embodimentsmay be described using the term “coupled” to indicate that two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact. The term“coupled,” however, may also mean that two or more elements are not indirect contact with each other, but yet still co-operate or interactwith each other. The embodiments are not limited in this context.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed to describe elementsand components of the embodiments herein. This is done merely forconvenience and to give a general sense of the description. Thisdescription, and the claims that follow, should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it isobvious that it is meant otherwise.

This detailed description is to be construed as exemplary only and doesnot describe every possible embodiment, as describing every possibleembodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. One could implementnumerous alternate embodiments, using either current technology ortechnology developed after the filing date of this application.

The foregoing description is for purposes of illustration only and notfor purposes of limitation. The true scope of the invention is set forthby the appurtenant claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A modular food holding system communicatively connected to a central controller, comprising: a master base configured to communicatively connect each of one or more food holding chambers to the central controller and further configured to connect to one or more expansion bases; a first food holding chamber directly connected to the master base; and a second food holding chamber connected to the master base through either (i) the first food holding chamber or (ii) an expansion base connected to the master base; wherein the master base, the first food holding chamber, and the second food holding chamber are separate and discrete structures removably connected within the modular food holding system; wherein the master base is configured to establish a communication connection between the central controller and the first and second food holding chambers, and wherein the first and second food holding chambers receive control commands from the central controller.
 2. The modular food holding system of claim 1, wherein the first food holding chamber has an identical structure to the structure of the second food holding chamber.
 3. The modular food holding system of claim 2, wherein each food holding chamber includes both a downstream connector configured to connect to a food holding chamber and an upstream connector configured to communicatively connect the food holding chamber to the master base, which upstream and downstream connectors have distinct and corresponding structures.
 4. The modular food holding system of claim 3, wherein the upstream and downstream connectors of each food holding chamber includes one or both of an electrical power connector or a communication connector.
 5. The modular food holding system of claim 3, wherein the first food holding chamber is communicatively connected to the central controller through the master base and the second food holding chamber is communicatively connected to the central controller through the first food holding chamber and the master base.
 6. The modular food holding system of claim 1, wherein the first and second food holding chambers include one or more electrical components, and the electrical components include only one or more of the following: a unit controller, a timer switch, a heating element, a fan or an indicator light; and wherein the one or more electrical components are communicatively connected to the master base by one or more connectors or wiring within the first and second food holding chambers.
 7. The modular food holding system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second food holding chambers includes a sensor, and wherein the at least one of the first and second food holding chambers is controlled based upon sensor data from the sensor.
 8. The modular food holding system of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the first and second food holding chambers includes a unit controller, which unit controller receives the sensor data from the sensor, and the unit controller controls the at least one of the first and second food holding chambers based upon the sensor data received.
 9. The modular food holding system of claim 1, wherein the first food holding chamber receives electrical power from the master base and the second food holding chamber receives electrical power from either (i) the first food holding chamber or (ii) the expansion base.
 10. The modular food holding system of claim 9, wherein each of the first and second food holding chamber includes an electrical heating or cooling element and a unit controller that controls operation of the electrical hearing or cooling element.
 11. The modular food holding system of claim 1, wherein the second food holding chamber is connected to the expansion base, and wherein the expansion base is directly connected to the master base and is configured to communicatively connect one or more additional food holding chambers and one or more additional expansion bases to the master base.
 12. A method for monitoring a plurality of food holding chambers of a modular food holding system, comprising: connecting a first food holding chamber to a master base, wherein the master base is configured to connect to one or more expansion bases; connecting a second food holding chamber to the first food holding chamber, wherein connecting the second food holding chamber to the first food holding chamber communicatively connects the second food holding chamber to the master base through either (i) the first food holding chamber or (ii) an expansion base connected to the master base; connecting, by a communications link, a central controller to a master base; receiving, at the master base via the communications link from the central controller, an indication of first operating parameters regarding operation of the first food holding chamber and an indication of second operating parameters regarding operation of the second food holding chamber; communicating, from the master base, the first operating parameters to the first food holding chamber; communicating, from the master base, the second operating para meters to the second food holding chamber; controlling, by a first unit controller, the operation of the first food holding chambers based upon the first operating parameters; and controlling, by a second unit controller, the operation of the second food holding chambers based upon the second operating parameters, wherein the master base the first food holding chamber, and the second food holding chamber are separate and discrete structures removably connected within the modular food holding system.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the indications of the first and second parameters comprises: receiving from the central controller, via the communications link, a control command directed to either or both of the first food holding chamber or the second food holding chamber; and determining at least one of the first or second operating parameters based upon the received control command.
 14. The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving from the central controller, via the communications link, a control command directed to either or both of the first food holding chamber or the second food holding chamber, wherein the control command causes either or both of the first food holding chamber or the second food holding chamber to perform one or more of the following actions: presenting an alert, illuminating an indicator light, displaying a countdown, controlling the temperature within the food holding chamber, or controlling the humidity within the food holding chamber.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the communications link includes one or more of the following: a cord, a wireless connection, or a direct connection between a plug of the central controller and a socket of the master base.
 16. The method of claim 12, further comprising: communicating to the central controller, via the communications link, data from one or both of the first food holding chamber or the second food holding chamber, wherein the data comprises one or more of the following: temperature within the food holding chamber, humidity within the food holding chamber, heat source location within the food holding chamber, operating status of the food holding chamber, operating parameters of the food holding chamber, or sensor data from one or more sensors disposed within the one or more food holding chambers; and causing the central controller to present information associated with at least a portion of the received data to a user via a display of the central controller.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining, by one or more processors of the central controller, at least one of the first operating parameters and the second parameters based upon data from one or both of the first food holding chamber or the second food holding chamber; generate, by the one or more processors of the central controller, the indication of first operating parameters and the indication of the second operating parameters; and communicate from the central controller, via the communications link, the indication of first operating parameters and the indication of the second operating parameters.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the first food holding chamber has a structure identical to the structure of the second food holding chamber.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein each food holding chamber includes both a downstream connector configured to connect to a food holding chamber and an upstream connector configured to communicatively connect the food holding chamber to the master base, which upstream and downstream connectors have distinct and corresponding structures.
 20. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and second operating parameters include one or more set points, each set point associated with a target level of an environmental condition within the food holding chamber. 